Tuesday, January 21, 2020

At The Heart


The WORD today reminds me that God looks at our hearts.

A lot of people get influenced by appearance. They get impressed or intimidated based on what the eyes see. Rich and powerful people show off their money and influence with their appearance. Corporate people also do this. Power dressing. Intimidating to people. on the other hand, it is easy to judge the weak and poor by appearance. However, what is real is not always seen by the eyes. Similar to what the little prince said, "what is essential is invisible to the eye". God looks at us this way.

God does not judge by the appearance, but looks at our heart.

In the first reading, we see an example of this. Samuel was to anoint a king. Even Samuel, a prophet of God, gave importance to appearance. He thought that the eldest son of Jesse, Eliab, was the one God chose. Not him. Not the older brothers who were important in society that time, based on their birth right. But God chose David. A young boy, the youngest, to be the king. God saw what was in his heart.

The psalmist echoes this. And the gospel tells a similar message. Superficial actions were not as important as the heart. Jesus told them that doing prohibited work on a Sabbath would not offend God - if done with the right intentions. God looks not at our superficial actions, but at our hearts as we do these actions.

It is easy to appear good to other people. It is easy to make and maintain a reputation - of confidence, power, success, or goodness. However, God sees more than what we show. God sees our hearts and what really are in there. God sees if our actions are superficial, or if they are manifestations of the goodness in our hearts.

More than worldly achievements and recognition, what is important to God is a heart inclined to him.

We do not need a lot of credentials to serve God and do good. Unlike in corporations where further education and accomplishments are very important to be at the top, God's ladder is climbed differently. He does not need these accomplishments. He just needs a heart willing to serve Him and sees Him as the God he is. Then like David, he will use and equip, and make great things through us - no matter how simple we may seem in the eyes of the world.

Do I give importance to my worldly image and reputation? Am I more concerned about how other people see me that at how God sees me? What is he reminding me today?

May we remember that God sees our hearts, and work to have not a good image, but a good heart.

Father God,
Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another reminder. Lord, sorry for the times i get contented with superficial service. Sorry for the times i focus on how I would appear good to other people. Sorry for the times I work to get the approval of other people and not you. And I am sorry for underestimating you, for thinking that because I am simple and have no credentials the world recognizes, I cannot serve you well. Help me have a heart like David. Help me have a heart that focuses on you, that loves you. Help me have a heart that surrenders to you. As I work to have that, I Ask that you use me however unworthy I may seem. Use me for your purpose. Use me for your kingdom. Use me to glorify your name. Amen. 



Blessed Day!



In Christ,

-g-



Ps

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January 21 2020



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January 20  |  January 22 »

Memorial of Saint Agnes, virgin and martyr
Lectionary: 312

Reading 1 1 SM 16:1-13

The LORD said to Samuel:
“How long will you grieve for Saul,
whom I have rejected as king of Israel?
Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way.
I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem,
for I have chosen my king from among his sons.”
But Samuel replied:
“How can I go?
Saul will hear of it and kill me.”
To this the LORD answered:
“Take a heifer along and say,
‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’
Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I myself will tell you what to do;
you are to anoint for me the one I point out to you.”

Samuel did as the LORD had commanded him.
When he entered Bethlehem,
the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and inquired,
“Is your visit peaceful, O seer?”
He replied:
“Yes!  I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.
So cleanse yourselves and join me today for the banquet.”
He also had Jesse and his sons cleanse themselves
and invited them to the sacrifice.
As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought,
“Surely the LORD’s anointed is here before him.”
But the LORD said to Samuel: 
“Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature,
because I have rejected him.
Not as man sees does God see,
because he sees the appearance
but the LORD looks into the heart.”
Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him before Samuel,
who said, “The LORD has not chosen him.”
Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said,
“The LORD has not chosen this one either.”
In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel,
but Samuel said to Jesse,
“The LORD has not chosen any one of these.”
Then Samuel asked Jesse,
“Are these all the sons you have?”
Jesse replied,
“There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.”
Samuel said to Jesse,
“Send for him;
we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here.” 
Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them.
He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold
and making a splendid appearance.
The LORD said,
“There–anoint him, for this is he!”  
Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand,
anointed him in the midst of his brothers;
and from that day on, the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David. 
When Samuel took his leave, he went to Ramah.

Responsorial Psalm 89:20, 21-22, 27-28

R. (21a)  I  have found David, my servant.
Once you spoke in a vision,
and to your faithful ones you said:
“On a champion I have placed a crown;
over the people I have set a youth.”
R. I  have found David, my servant.
“I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
That my hand may be always with him,
and that my arm may make him strong.”
R. I  have found David, my servant.
“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.’
And I will make him the first-born,
highest of the kings of the earth.”
R. I  have found David, my servant.

Alleluia EPH 1:17-18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our hearts,
that we may know what is the hope
that belongs to our call.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MK 2:23-28

As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath,
his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.
At this the Pharisees said to him,
“Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
He said to them,
“Have you never read what David did
when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?
How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest
and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat,
and shared it with his companions?”
Then he said to them,
“The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”




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